This invention relates generally to a housing for a connector, and more particularly to a readily detachable housing for a telephone or electrical connector which is located at or beneath the surface of a floor or wall of a structure.
Generally, electrical power is distributed throughout buildings by providing conduits or ducts in the floors or walls of the structure and having the electrical wires extending therethrough. External appliances may be connected to these electrical supply lines, at convenient points along the conduits, by making holes in the floor or wall in registry with suitable openings in the conduit and positioning a receptacle therein to which the plug of an external appliance such as a lamp, an electric typewriter, etc. may be conveniently connected. Similarly, telephone wires are generally located in these conduits or ducts disposed in the walls or below the surface of the floor, and the telephone instruments are connected to these wires by means of jacks which are located in the floor openings.
As is well known in the art to which the invention relates, housings are required to protect the connector, i.e., the receptacle or the receptacle plug combination from damage and to prevent leakage of water into the receptacle and/or conduit while permitting the plug to be detached from the receptacle or outlet. In the past, these housings were made entirely of metal. Typically, such a housing included a metal sleeve mounted beneath the surface of the floor or wall and extending, in the opening in the floor, from the conduit toward the surface of the floor. A metal cap was provided for closing off the upper part of the sleeve. Such a cap normally extended above the surface of the floor or wall. The conventional metal caps were of one-piece construction with an opening in the center just large enough to permit the wires to pass therethrough but not large enough for the plug to be drawn through. This construction thus required the plug to be disassembled from the wires of the external appliance prior to each plugging and unplugging of the appliance. Thus, the wires would have to be threaded through the small opening in the metal one-piece cap and then reconnected to the plug so as to enable the cap to be installed on the sleeve after the plug was plugged into an outlet located at the interior of the sleeve. This type of assembly procedure impaired interchangeability of appliances with outlets, inasmuch as each time it was necessary to move an appliance plugged into a particular outlet, the plug had to be disconnected from the wire so as to permit removal of the metal cap therefrom. Then, the plug from the new appliance would have to be removed from its wire and the new wire threaded through the opening in the metal cap. The plug would then have to be reconnected to the wire at the other side of the cap.
The metal caps, in order to afford good mechanical protection against damage by vacuum cleaners, rug shampooers, etc., have to be machined from relatively heavy gauge metal and were quite expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, mating parts had to be machined highly accurately, at great cost, to assure that a fluid-tight seal would be obtained therebetween so as to prevent water from leaking into the electrical connectors and causing a short circuit while the floors were being washed or the rugs shampooed. In addition, in the event the wire insulation became frayed and worn through so as to expose the conductor, there was the risk that the conductor might contact the metal cap and cause a short circuit.
The metal caps were conventionally brass or steel and thus displayed the respective gold or silvery color of the metal. Since painting would have been expensive and would easily have chipped it was not economically feasible nor practical to match the color of the metallic cap with that of a rug, floor or wall on which it was mounted.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a housing for electrical and/or telephone connectors which will overcome the aforesaid disadvantages.
With more particularity, it is an object of the invention to provide a housing for electrical and/or telephone connectors which does not require removal of the plug or jack from its respective wire leads in order to permit the plug or jack to be assembled with the cap to the housing, thereby facilitating interchangeability.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved housing of the above type made from a material which may be readily obtained in any desired color so as to match the carpeting or other flooring on which it is mounted.
A related object of the invention is to provide a housing for electrical and/or telephone connectors which is made from an electrically insulating material forming a sturdy mechanical structure providing a substantially fluid-tight seal with mating parts.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a housing which is provided with means for supporting and electrically grounding an electric plug-receiving receptacle when such a receptacle is used, and which means also can be used for supporting a telephone jack or the like when such a jack is to be used in lieu of the aforementioned receptacle.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved housing in common for electrical and/or telephone connectors which is capable of being mass produced in a manner which requires little or no machining, and which is substantially less expensive to fabricate than conventional in-floor housings.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.